A study result that “Positron Emission Tomography (FDG PET/CT)” using glucose analog molecules was effective for the early diagnosis of esophageal cancer recurrence has been reported.

Professor Joon Young Choi of Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging at Samsung Medical Center and the research team of Professor Soo Jeong Kim of Department of Nuclear Medicine at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital analyzed 782 cases of FDG PET/CT tests, which were performed for the early diagnosis of esophageal cancer recurrences in patients who received radical treatment such as surgery, etc. between 2006 and 2015.

According to the research team, all of the 64 cases that were confirmed to have cancer recurrences were suspected to have esophageal cancer recurrences based on the FDG PET/CT tests performed previously. Therefore, the sensitivity was 100%. For the rest of the 718 cases that were confirmed to have no cancer recurrence, the specificity was 94%, which was impressive.

As the whole-body status can be checked through PET/CT, a remote metastasis or secondary cancer can be discovered as well. In fact, all of the 13 cases whose remote metastases were confirmed could be discovered through FDG PET/CT tests (among the 12 cases whose secondary cancers were confirmed, 7 cases had remote metastases, and 5 cases were in clinical stage I that showed a high chance of complete cure).

Meanwhile, this study was performed with the support of R&D Program for Cancer Control of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and published in European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, the world’s best academic journal in nuclear medicine.

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